BiofeedBack

The purpose of BIOFEEDBACK is to provide an

important and timely vehicle for the dissemination of

information concerning BOTH faculty and students of

the Biology Department. Any notices or information

that you wish to include in BIOFEEDBACK should be

submitted to either Dr. Carolyn or Dr. Alan Jaslow.

BIOFEEDBACK is published each semester.

Volume 25 21 March 2011 Number 2

The Chair’s Niche

Most would agree that the centerpiece of the Department of Biology

is the pentaceratops. We’ve even adopted the term Dino Lounge for its surroundings. Whatever prospective stu-dents and faculty candidates remember about Rhodes, the dinosaur has to top the list.

Yet the dinosaur is only one of many items on display.

Our displays include an electron microscope; a DNA double-helix, antique books and anatomical drawings; a Brazilian pink tarantula; corals; skeletons; orchids; freshwater and marine fish; mangroves; a sculpture in memorial to a former professor; a piece of wood excavated by carpenter bees; remnants of a mastodon unearthed during construction of this building; and some of your own research posters.

Over the coming months, you will see new items going on display as well. We hope these displays provide some inter-esting diversion as you fill time between classes or lab procedures.

Dr. Gary Lindquester

T h e N e w s l e T T e r O f T h e B i O l O g y D e p a r T m e N T a T r h O D e s

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Primary Productivity and Secondary Growth

The following is a list of honors, awards, publications and meeting participation of our faculty and students since October 19, 2010.

Honors and AwardsCongratulations to…

… Dr. Sarah Boyle who was elected board member and co-chair of Education for the Memphis Area Geographic Information Council. ... to the new ( ) officers: Cintara Bradley NEUR ’12 (treasurer) and Madeline Jeansonne ’12 (secretary).

Grants and FellowshipsDr. Rosanna Cappellato, Dr. Michael Collins, Dr. Jonathan Fitz Gerald, Dr. David Kabelik and Dr. Laura Luque de Johnson were awarded

Faculty Development Endowment Grants for this coming summer. Dr. Cappellato’s project, “Ecosystem analysis of Memphis urban parks as a tool to promote the conservation of Memphis green spaces;” Dr. Collins’ “The effects of urban noise on bird song;” Dr. Fitz Gerald’s “Using natural variation in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana to identify primary developmental outcomes of parental genomic imprinting;” Dr. Kabelik’s “How a single neurotransmitter can cause opposing behavioral out-comes” and Dr. Luque de Johnson’s “Visualization of cytoskele-tal rearrangement in live red blood cells after interactions with the parasitic protein EBA-175 using confocal microscopy” were part of a highly competitive process in which there are nearly two proposals for each available award.

Ted Boozalis ’12, Landon LaSalle ’12, and Anna Johnson ’11 each received financial support to attend the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, from the Rhodes Student Travel Fund and the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology Charlotte Magnum Student Travel Award.

John Geyer ’13 was funded through the Rhodes Fellowship

There is more to biology than rats, Drosophila, Caenorhabditis, and E. coli.

— Ernst Mayr

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Program to work with Dr. Jen Houghton. His project, “History of geology using the Rhodes Vanuxem Collection” may be viewed at http://earthsciweb.org/vanuxem/.

The Ghost River Brewery Microbiology Internship was accepted as a Rhodes Fellowship for the spring semester. Drs. Laura Luque de Johnson and Terry Hill, in conjunction with the local microbrew-ery, designed this fellowship to expose students to how biological knowledge and skills are employed in an industrial environment. Catherine Bordelon ‘12 was selected to perform microbiological quality control over different stages of the beer-brewing process.

PublicationsLaurance, W. F., J. L. Camargo, R. C. C. Luizão, S. G. Laurance, S. L.

Pimm, E. M. Bruna, P. C. Stouffer, G. B. Williamson, J. Benítez-Malvido, H. L. Vasconcelos, K. S. Van Houtan, C. E. Zartman, S. A. Boyle, R. K. Didham, A. Andrade, and T. E. Lovejoy. 2011. The fate of Amazonian forest fragments: a 32-year investiga-tion. Biological Conservation 144: 56-67.

Stahlschmidt, Z., J. R. Davis, and D. F. DeNardo. 2011. Sexual variation in assi-milation efficiency: Its link to pheno-type and potential role in sexual dimor-phism. Journal of Comparative Physiology

B DOI : 10.1007/s00360-010-0536-0.

Foustoukos, D. I., J. L. Houghton, W. E. Seyfried, Jr., S. Sievert, G. D. Cody. 2011. Kinetics of H2-O2-H2O redox equilibria and formation of metastable H2O2 under low temperature hydro-thermal conditions. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 75: 1594-1607.

Houghton, J. L. and W. E. Seyfried, Jr. (2010) An experimental and theoretical approach to determining linkages bet-ween geochemical variability and micro-bial biodiversity in seafloor hydrother-mal chimneys. Geobiology 8: 457-470.

MeetingsTwelve Rhodes students participated in the 10th Annual Mid-South GIS

Conference, November 18-19, 2010 in Germantown, TN.

The following five posters were pre-sented: “Human-elephant conflict in Namibia” by Adam Alsamadisi ’12 and Blaire O’Neal ’12, first place; “Changes in undeveloped land acreage along the Wolf River” by Lee Bryant ’11 and Jared Swenson ’12, third place; “The effects of headcutting on Wolf River channeli-zation and adjacent wetlands” by David Siu ’12; “Remote sensing of land cover in succession areas” by Brad Hensley ’12; and “Effects of land cover on parasite prevalence in snakes” by Adiha Khan ’13,

Kimber Jones ’13, Matthew McCravy BMB ’12, Matt Grisham ’13, and Anna Johnson ’11, with Drs. Davis, Luque de Johnson, and Boyle.

Two additional research talks were given at the conference. Rebecca Vandewalle ’12 presented “Visualizing archaeological data using Google Earth and GIS” which was coauthored by Drs. Moreland and Boyle, and Dr. Boyle presented “GIS and remote sensing: resources for improving community participation.”

In January, Dr. Jon Davis attended the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah with Ted Boozalis ’12, Landon LaSalle ’12, and Rhodes Fellow, Anna Johnson ’11. Ted presented a talk titled, “Good as new? Morphological and biochemi-cal analyses reveal variation between original and regenerated lizard tails,” co-authored by Landon LaSalle and Dr. Davis. Landon presented a poster on a parallel project titled, “Adding insult to injury: Primary and secondary costs of tail loss in lizards”, with co-authors Ted Boozalis, Julia Goss ’10, and Dr. Davis. Anna presented a poster entitled, “An integrative assessment of snake parasitism across an urban-rural gradi-ent”, coauthored and Rhodes Fellows Matt Grisham ’13 and Adiha Khan ’13, as well as Kimber Jones ’13, Matt McCravy ’13, and Drs. Sarah Boyle, Laura Luque de Johnson, and Davis.

Staffing News for 2011-2012Next year, Dr. Terry Hill will be on sabbatical for the entire year. We will continue to offer Cell Biology in the fall, and the Biology Department is looking now for someone to teach the course. We also hope to have a new Plant Evolutionary Biologist on staff, and so we antici-pate that we will be offering Evolution in the spring for the first time in a couple of years.

Curricular EvolutionFaculty and Course Updates for ’11-’12

Wrap Your Brain Around This!Starting next year, Dr. Kabelik’s spring Neuroscience course (BIO 370) will no longer be offered. Instead, Dr. Kabelik

will teach Neuroendocrinology (BIO 375) in the spring. Neuroendocrinology explores how the brain regulates endocrine homeostasis

and how changes in hormone levels affect neural structure and func-tion, including regulation of stress, appetite and various social behaviors.

Neuroendocrinology will not have a lab component.

ES Course TectonicsEnvironmental Hydrogeology (GEO 214) will be offered in the fall rather than the spring, and Physical Geology (Geo 111) will be offered in the spring and will focus on National Parks as case studies, thereby flipping the order from this year. Also a new 1-credit (F11) field excursion to the Teton Science School in Grand Teton National Park will be offered from August 7-14 called Introduction to Environmental Field Methods: Hydrogeology in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The field excursion, offered through Study Abroad, can be taken as a single experience, although students are encouraged to consider taking it in conjunction with the fall semester Environmental Hydrogeology course, which will incorporate datasets col-lected during the trip.

Other Courses that Count for the Bio MajorIf you are looking for an additional course to fulfill upper-level Biology requirements in the Fall, don’t forget about Biochemistry (CHEM 414) which requires Organic Chemistry (CHEM 212) as a prerequisite. Pharmacology (CHEM 416), usually taught in the fall, will be taught Spring ’12. It also requires Organic Chemistry as a prerequisite.

Comparative Vertebrate Morphology (BIO 350)CVM will again be offered with two 9 AM lectures most weeks and two (unequal) formal lab meetings a week. One lab meets Tuesday from 12:30-3:30. The second lab each week meets Friday for a minimum of 50 minutes, either from 1-1:50, or from 2-2:50. Two additional hours in lab are required, but these hours may be completed at other times during the week. The variable Friday lab time allows students to pre-register in another class meeting MWF at either 1 or 2 PM. CVM has two course numbers. The first includes the lecture and Tuesday lab.

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Optimal Foraging The following courses will be offered next semesterNumber Course Title Hours Offered 130 Biology I Lecture MWF 8-8:50, 9-9:50 or 11-11:50, TuTh 9:30-10:45 4 Sections

131 Biology I Lab Tu 12:30-3:30, Wed 1-4, or Th 12:30-3:30 6 Sections

207 Animal Behavior (Boyle) MWF 10-10:50, Mon lab 1-4

307 Cell Biology (TBA) TuTh 8-9:15

BCMB 310 Methods in Cell Bio/Bioch (Loprete) W 1:00- 5:00

315 Ecology (Collins) TuTh 9:30-10:45, Th lab 12:30-3:30

330 Virology/Immunology (Lindquester) MWF 10-10:50

340 Animal Physiology (Kabelik) MWF 9-9:50, Tu lab 12:30-5

350 Comp Vert Morph (AJaslow) MWF 9-9:50, Tu lab 12:30- 3:30, Fri lab 1-3

360 Histology (CJaslow) MWF 8-8:50, Wed lab 1-4

380 Topics in Biomedical Science MW 7:30-8:45 (Lindquester)

CHEM 414 Biochemistry (Loprete) MWF 11-11:50

Senior Seminar Sections 485-1 The Mississippi River (Cappellato) TuTh 3:45-5

485-2 Viruses: Risks and Benefits TuTh 11-12:15 (Lindquester)

For Non-Majors 120 Introduction to Environmental MWF 11-11:50, Science Mon lab 1-4

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This one must be enrolled from the main tree (A, B, or C). The second number allows you to choose

one of the two Friday lab times. Please pick the 1 PM Friday time if you can. This Friday section should be added from the Lab portion of the tree. See Dr. A. Jaslow if you have any questions.

Where Does the Methods Lab (BCMB 310) Go on the Tree?Methods in Cell Biology & Biochemistry (BCMB 310) is the optional labora-tory section for Cell Biology (BIOL 307) and/or Biochemistry (CHEM 414). Students who intend to request BCMB 310 as a lab with either Cell or Biochemistry should enter it into the Lab portion of the tree. Students who wish to take the course alone, because they took or will take Cell or Biochemistry, cannot sign up for it on the tree. Instead, they should contact Dr. Loprete as soon as possible.

What’s Up for Next Spring?In the spring of 2012 we expect to offer the following upper-level Biology class-es: Conservation Biology, Mechanisms of Development, Evolution, Genetics, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Neuroendocrinology, and Parasitology. Also planned for spring are the three courses that include summer field trips: An International Experience in Health Care: Improving Infection Prevention and Control in El Salvador; Environmental Issues in South Africa; and Rocky Mountain Ecology. Bear in mind that this list of courses is tenta-tive and could change if unexpected circumstances arise. In particular, the field courses will only be offered if they have adequate enrollments.

Senior Seminar LotteryWednesday, March 23rd Next year, the Biology Department will offer three sections of Biology Senior Seminar. In addition, four Biology stu-dents may enroll in the BCMB Senior

Seminar that Dr. Miller will teach. Rising seniors, please consult the descriptions of these four senior semi-nar courses below.

All rising Biology seniors must reserve a slot in a fall or spring Biology senior seminar section, or BCMB senior semi-nar, via a lottery that will be held in the Biology Library at 11:00 AM on Wednesday, March 23rd. If you cannot attend the lottery, you must send a rep-resentative prepared with an ordered list of your choices. Once you have signed up by lottery, you should list your reserved senior seminar section last on the regis-tration tree under the category of “Other Courses” when you register for that par-ticular semester. Biology students will not be allowed to register in a seminar section other than the one which they reserved through the lottery. If you have questions about the lottery, or are plan-ning to graduate in December, contact Dr. C. Jaslow before spring break.

Senior Seminar Choices ’10-‘11BIOL 485-1: Dr. Rosanna Cappellato’s fall senior seminar, “The Mississippi River,” will meet on Tu/Th 3:45-5:00 and will focus on the ecology of the river. The course will cover basic con-cepts of river ecology and will investi-gate how human-driven changes, such as dams, artificial channeling, and exotic species have affected the ecosystem’s

health. The Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” and the environmen-tal impact of hur-

ricane Katrina will be among the topics addressed during the semester. Emphasis will be placed upon research from the primary literature selected, presented and discussed by students in the class. Note: This seminar conflicts with the Animal Physiology lab. DO NOT sign up for this seminar if you want to take Animal Physiology.

BIOL 485-2: Meeting on Tu/Th 11:00-12:15, Dr. Gary Lindquester’s fall semi-nar is “Viruses: Risks and Benefits.” Over the centuries, viruses have posed great risks to humanity. Historically, viral diseases such as smallpox and influenza have decimated large portions of the

human popula-tion. In more recent times, viruses such as HIV and Ebola have threatened us. Yet, humans

have also harnessed viruses for their own benefit. Bacteriophage can treat bacteri-al infections, viruses can target invasive species in the environment, and viruses can deliver toxins to cancer cells or functional genes to tissues with genetic defects. This seminar will begin with an overview of viral structure and function and go on to explore such topics as high-lighted here, selected by the participants from a broader list.

BIOL 486-1: Meeting in the spring on Tu/Th 4:00-5:15, Dr. Michael Collins’ “Avian Ecology” seminar will cover a wide range of topics including urban ecology, migration, population and community ecology, and conserva-tion biol-ogy of birds. Students will read and present background information from the primary literature. They will also research a topic of their own interest that relates to avian ecology, summarize their find-ings to the class, and evaluate the pre-sentations of other students.

BCMB 486: Meeting in the spring on M/W/F 9:00-9:50, Dr. Miller’s “Cancer Biology” will be accepting four biology majors to join the BMB major senior seminar. This seminar is required for all BMB majors. Biology students who are interested should have taken one or more of the follow-ing courses: Molecular Biology (BIOL

Signals and Displays (short communications)

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325), Biochemistry (CHEM 414), or Cell Biology (BIOL 307). This seminar will focus on the molecular basis of cancer and will integrate faculty from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to present their research. Students will read and present background information and primary

literature on the topics to be covered by the St. Jude faculty. Biology majors who wish to take this seminar should contact Dr. C. Jaslow as soon as possible.

Does school have you totally stressed out? Are you questioning your post-graduate options? Does the thought of even more schooling seem like the straw that will break your camel’s back? Well, you might want to consider a gap year. To gain some perspective on this ever more popular option, we spoke to some of our pre-med students who opted to take a gap year before applying to medical school. Keep reading to see what we found out.

Alumni Luminescence

Gustavo Huerta ’10 finished college in three years and decided it would be better to “broaden his experiences with medicine” and become a more-well rounded applicant before applying

to medical school. “By doing a summer research internship at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital through the Pediatric Oncology Education Program…and work-ing as an Endoscopy Technician for a

general surgeon” during the academic year, he’s managed to do both.

When asked if he would recommend this option to other students, Gustavo responded with a resounding yes, saying “It’s a great way to take some time off from the constant studying and academic grind of school while also gaining valu-able experiences and saving some cash. Don’t be intimidated by the concept of not knowing what you will be doing that year or what graduate schools will think

of you for taking a year off. In almost every medical school interview I have had we have discussed my gap year. I have had several interviewers tell me what a good experience they think it is for prospective medical students.”

Ciara Conway ’10 also felt that it was important to take a break from the demands of academia. She welcomed the chance to “explore various medi-cal schools to get a feel for which one would be the right fit.” During her time off, Ciara told us “I have gotten the oppor-tunity to travel abroad to Uganda and con-duct research” through the MHIRT program at Christian Brothers University (see http://www.cbu.edu/mhirt). Knowing the stressful commitment of medical school, Ciara said she was happy to have the year off getting time to “do things I enjoy such as community service, making new friends, and explor-ing new places before I commit myself

to school.” Ciara works in New York City with an AmeriCorps affiliate program, the New York Intern Program. She helps provide support to South Asian immi-grants living in the Bronx…to make sure that holistic health care is accessible to this community. She teaches ESL classes, writes grants, and trains com-munity health workers to deliver health care messages to the community.

Ciara told us that “taking a year off can be a good decision depending on how you choose to spend it. Explore mean-ingful things that you can do with your time. At every medical school interview, I was asked about productive things I was doing with my time. Though the year off should be relaxing and insight-ful, do something that will provide interesting and stimulating discussions during your interviews.”

So, take a deep breath. Start thinking outside the box. A gap year might be just what the doctor ordered!

GUSTAVO HUERTA ’10

CIARA CONWAY ’10

New Majors!With a unanimous vote by the faculty, Rhodes College offi-cially added two majors, a B.S. in Environmental Sciences and a B.A. in Environmental Studies, to the catalogue in February. These majors build on the existing minors in Environmental Sciences and Environmental Studies and

address an increasing interest among the students for these disciplines. The Departments of Biology and Chemistry will contribute to the B.S. in Environmental Sciences through course offerings and research opportunities. Drs. Boyle, Cappellato, and Collins in Biology, Drs. Loprete and Russ in Chemistry, and Dr. Houghton in Geosciences are eager to

share their expertise with Environmental students and look forward to building a dynamic, active program in Environmental Studies and Sciences at Rhodes. Questions about the program should be directed to Dr. Cappellato (cappellator@rhodes.edu). Information on the majors’ requirements is posted on the Environmental Program website (http://www.rhodes.edu/ess).

TN Academy of Science MeetingsThis year the Collegiate Division of the Tennessee Academy of Science will be hosted by the University of Tennessee Health Science Center on Saturday, April 9th. This meeting is an excellent opportunity to learn about the research of other undergraduates or to have your abstract published in the Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science if you pres-ent (a great addition to your curriculum vitae). Registration and Abstracts are due by March 24th. Instructions are at http://www.uthsc.edu/TAS/.

Tri-Beta NewsBeta Beta Beta ( ) is a national biological honor soci-ety with an active chapter at Rhodes. is dedicated to the enrichment of its members' scientific experiences and to the sharing and dissemination of information gleaned from those experiences. Current chapter activities include participation in the Rhodes Journal of Biological Science, coordination of student research presentations, organiza-tion of various fundraising events, and hosting of biological seminars. provides a forum to recognize those students, with a biological science as their undergraduate major, who excel academically. Regular membership can only be attained through invitation, but any student meeting the criteria who is interested in becoming an associate member for the next school year should contact the current president, Lindsey Bierle (biela@rhodes.edu) or vice president, Ted Boozalis (boots@rhodes.edu). Go to http://www.rhodes.edu/academics/2981.asp for detailed membership criteria. $$ Biology Research Award $$This spring, the Biology Department will be presenting the “Award for Outstanding Student Research in Biology.” Any student with a declared Biology Major and who has complet-ed research at Rhodes or elsewhere is eligible for this award. The winner will receive a cash prize, be honored at the award convocation ceremony, and have their name engraved on the Biology Research Award plaque that is displayed

outside of the Biology office. To be considered, a student must submit a three-to-five page research paper, plus a rec-ommendation from the research supervisor, to Dr. Luque de Johnson by Monday, March 28th. Copies of the application and recommendation forms may be obtained from Dr. Luque de Johnson. Announcement of the award winner will be made at spring awards convocation on Friday, April 29th.

Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Symposium (URCAS)The Rhodes Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Symposium (URCAS) provides you the opportunity to showcase your outstanding work to the entire campus community. You will gain first-hand experience in communicating your research and creative activity, an essential part of professional growth. It will take place on Friday, April 29th this year – keep your eyes open for a final schedule of paper/poster presentations.

Those wishing to present a paper or poster need to identify a faculty sponsor and must submit an abstract via the online submission process by March 23rd. Online submission will open well in advance of this deadline; you will receive notification when it is open.

Biology Seminar SeriesThere is still one remain-ing Seminar sponsored by the Biology Department this spring. Monday, April 4th, Dr. Richmond Thompson, Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and Director of the Neuroscience Program at Bowdoin College in Maine, will be our guest speaker. Dr. Thompson will pres-ent “The Evolution of Peptide Social Regulatory Mechanisms in Vertebrates.” Be sure to mark the date!

Work in the Biology Department!The Biology Department is looking for students to work as lab Teaching Assistants for the core biology classes next year. These TA positions will consist of approximately 8-10 hours per week of work. We prefer someone who has an interest in Biology and has taken Bio I and II for the job. Pay and further details concerning being a TA will be discussed on an individual basis. Please feel free to contact Sarah Hasty at 843-3431 (email: hastys@rhodes.edu) for additional informa-tion. Applications for the lab TA job can be found outside room FJ 102E. The deadline for the fall/spring positions is April 27, 2011. Also, if you are interested in working in the Biology Department this summer, please contact Sarah Hasty.

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Veronica Alix ’12 Immuno-histochemical localization of neural acti-vation following aggressive encounters. BIO 452 (Dr. David Kabelik)

Jason Ballard ’11 Tract tracing of neural networks involved in the regula-tion of social behaviors. BIO 451 & 452 (Dr. David Kabelik)

Logan Benoist ’11 The effects of urban noise on bird vocalizations. BIO 452 (Dr. Michael Collins)

Maha Bano ’13 Characterization of curcumin and its derivatives as carboxy-lesterases inhibitors. Dr. Phil Potter, St. Jude Summer Plus Program, BCMB 451 & 452 (Dr. Laura Luque de Johnson)

Ted Boozalis ’12 Biochemical and morphological exam of tail regenera-tion in lizards. BIO 451 & 452 (Dr. Jon Davis)

Tiara Brice ’11 An analysis of mer-cury in soil. BIO 452 (Dr. Rosanna Cappellato)

Nick Brydon ’13 Monitoring snow leopard reproductive hormone levels by ELISA. Dr. Erin Willis, Memphis Zoo, BIO 451 & 452 (Dr. Gary Lindquester)

Nick Brydon ’13 Measuring cardiopro-tective properties of a novel anti-cancer drug in-vitro. Dr. Judith Soberman, UTHSC, BIO 451 & 452 (Dr. Gary Lindquester)

Maria Cartagena ’11 Analysis of electronic medication records at St. Jude. BIO 451 & 452 (Dr. Jonathon Fitzgerald)

Ryan Costello ’12 Generation of truncation mutations in the PkcA gene of Aspergillus nidulans. BIO 451 & 452 (Drs. Terry Hill, Loretta Jackson-Hayes, Darlene Loprete)

Claire DelBove ’11 Generation of truncation mutations in the PkcA gene of Aspergillus nidulans. CHEM 451 & 452 (Drs. Terry Hill, Loretta Jackson-Hayes, Darlene Loprete)

Allie Dillion ’12 The history of the Rhodes College Arboreta. BIO 452 (Dr. Rosanna Cappellato)

Wenbin Du ’13 Identification of a mutation in the Myosin gene in

Aspergillus nidulans. BIO 451 & 452 (Drs. Terry Hill, Loretta Jackson-Hayes, Darlene Loprete)

Danielle Eastlack ’11 S. cerevisiae ploidy specific sensitivity to the che-motherapeutic drug, KP1019. Research Assistant (Dr. Mary Miller)

Allie Elozory ’13 Application of asparaginase activity assay to clini-cal pharmacokinetics of Elspar (E. coli asparaginase) in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia St. Jude Summer Plus Research with Dr. Mary Relling, Chair, Pharmaceutical Sciences, St. Jude, BIO 451 & 452 (Dr. Mary Miller)

Shannon Fuller ’11 Characterization of cytoskeletal rearrangement in red blood cells after interaction with Plasmodium protein EBA-175. BIO 451 & 452. (Dr. Laura Luque de Johnson)

Katelyn Foster ’11 Characterization of cytoskeletal rearrangement in red blood cells after interaction with Plasmodium protein EBA-175. BIO 451 & 452. (Dr. Laura Luque de Johnson)

Matt Grisham ’13 Parasitology of rep-tiles across an urban-rural gradient. BIO 451 & 452 (Dr. Jon Davis)

Will Hawes ’12 Effects on aggression of pharmacological manipulation of the central vasotocin system. BIO 452 (Dr. David Kabelik)

Henin, Sandy ’11 Understanding the hypoxic response in mouse mod-els for breast cancer with Dr. Tiffany Seagroves, UT Cancer Institute, BIO 451 & 452 (Dr. Gary Lindquester).

Rachel Hickey BMB ’11 Functional analysis of the SccA gene in Aspergillus nidulans. BIO 451 & 452 (Drs. Terry Hill, Loretta Jackson-Hayes, Darlene Loprete)

Brianna Hoge ’12 Proteomic analy-sis of S-tagged and GFP-tagged PkcA in Aspergillus nidulans. BIO 451 & 452 (Drs. Terry Hill, Loretta Jackson-Hayes, Darlene Loprete)

Anna Johnson ’11 Parasitology of reptiles across an urban-rural gradient. BIO 451 & 452 (Dr. Jon Davis)

Kimber Jones ’13 The development of

non-invasive reproductive hormone moni-toring techniques for endangered Amur and snow leopards. Dr. Willis (Memphis Zoo), BIO 451 & 452 (Dr. Sarah Boyle)

Aaron Kala ’12 Effects on aggression of pharmacological manipulation of the central vasotocin system. BIO 451 & 452 (Dr. David Kabelik)

Adiha Khan ’13 Molecular character-ization of hemoparasites in local snakes. BIO 451 & 452 (Dr. Laura Luque de Johnson)

Lydia Lancaster ’11 Characterization of cytoskeletal rearrangement in red blood cells after interaction with Plasmodium protein EBA-175. BIO 451 &452. (Dr. Laura Luque de Johnson)

Bethany Larkin ’13 Pre-clinical test-ing of the novel anthracycline AD 445 in human breast cancer cell lines. Dr. Tiffany Seagroves & Dr. Len Lothstein, UTHSC, BIO 451 & 452 (Dr. Gary Lindquester)

Landon LaSalle ’12 Biochemical and morphological exam of tail regeneration in lizards. BIO 451 & 452 (Dr. Jon Davis)

Luke Laudermilk ’13 Exploring a potential non-canonical role of microRNA in up-regulating mRNA transcripts. Dr. William Evans & Dr. Steven Paugh, St.Jude, BCMB 451 & 452 (Dr. Gary Lindquester)

Phillip Lyons ’12 Testing sexual differences in 2D:4D ratios in striped newts. Dr. Jen Germano, Memphis Zoo, BIO 451 (Dr. Sarah Boyle)

Matthew McCravy BMB ’12 Molecular characterization of hemoparasites in local snakes. BCMB 451 & 452 (Dr. Laura Luque de Johnson)

Rebecca Miller ’12 Cytological analy-sis of an S. cerevisiae Rb homologue Whi5 to mark commitment to the cell division cycle. BIO 451 & 452 (Dr. Mary Miller)

Jess Newman ’13 Cryopreserving amphibian sperm. Dr. Jen Germano, Memphis Zoo, BIO 451 (Dr. Sarah Boyle)

Alex Nord ’11 Use of an invasive plant by native birds in an urban landscape. BIO 452 (Dr. Michael Collins)

Student Research 2010-2011 Sponsored by Programs at Rhodes(Rhodes faculty supervisors listed)

BiofeedBack T h e N e w s l e T T e r O f T h e B i O l O g y D e p a r T m e N T a T r h O D e s

Blaire O’Neal ’12 Natural resource overlay of Teton County, Wyoming. BIO 451 (Dr. Sarah Boyle)

Blaire O’ Neal, ’12 Potential brownfields in Memphis, TN: Conwood Company, LP in the Wolf River harbor target area. BIO 452 (Dr. Rosanna Capellato)

Jordan Perchik ’13 The development of non-invasive reproductive hormone monitoring techniques for endangered Amur and snow leopards. Dr. Erin Willis, Memphis Zoo, BIO 451& 452 (Dr. Sarah Boyle)

Chris Perkins ’13 Characterization of cytoskeletal rearrangement in red blood cells after interaction with Plasmodium protein EBA-175. BIO 451 & 452. (Dr. Laura Luque de Johnson)

Michael Pluta BMB ’11 Deletion of multiple septation genes in Aspergillus nidulans. BIO 451 & 452 (Drs. Terry Hill, Loretta Jackson-Hayes, Darlene Loprete)

Allison Price ’11 Use of MP2, DFT and semi-emperical calculations of protein-ligand interaction energies and ab initio QSAR

in the development of novel statin drug. Honors Research (Dr. Mauricio Cafiero)

Salar Rafieetary ’12 Effects on aggression of pharmacological manipula-tion of the central vasotocin system. BIO 451 & 452 (Dr. David Kabelik)

David Siu ’12 Effects on aggression of pharmacological manipulation of the dopaminergic system. BIO 451 & 452 (Dr. David Kabelik)

Leah Singh ’11 Immunohistochemical localization of neural activation follo-wing aggressive encounters. BIO 451 & 452 (Dr. David Kabelik)

Monique Smyth ‘13 Functional ana-lysis of the SccA gene in Aspergillus nidulans. BIO 451 & 452 (Drs. Terry Hill, Loretta Jackson-Hayes, Darlene Loprete)

Jared Swenson ’11 Examination of migration patterns and stopover sites using radar. Bio 452 (Dr. Michael Collins)

Sarah Tchang ’12 An environmental case study: the creation of potential brownfields at the Old Firestone Tire and Rubber Plant in Memphis, TN. BIO 452

(Dr. Rosanna Cappellato) Xiao Wang ’13 Identification of

a mutation in the Myosin gene in Aspergillus nidulans. BIO 451 & 452 (Drs. Terry Hill, Loretta Jackson-Hayes, Darlene Loprete)

Kristen Wendt ’14 Development of a Spore-PCR Protocol for use with Aspergillus nidulans. BIO 452 (Dr. Terry Hill)

Diana Wong ‘12 Diversity of tree spe-cies on Rhodes Campus. BIO 451 & 452 (Dr. Rosanna Cappellato)

Emily Woods BMB ’12 Complementation analysis of TH173 dependent cyclin defects in S.cerevisiae. Research Assistant (Dr. Mary Miller)

Zongyu (Christopher) Yang ’13 Molecular mechanisms of drug resistance in relapsed leukemia. Dr. Jun J. Yang, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (Dr. Laura Luque de Johnson)

Alex Yu ’13 Molecular characteriza-tion of hemoparasites in local snakes. BIO 451 & 452 (Dr. Laura Luque de Johnson)